Excerpt:Help Desk agents worldwide have either submitted these questions to HelpDeskCoach.com or asked these questions during customer service training for helpdesk agents, as presented by Donna Earl (The HelpDeskCoach).

See real-world questions and answers on such topics as: How to handle rude or obnoxious callers? How to more effectively help users to ‘help themselves? How to say ‘no’ to unreasonable support requests, especially those involving “illegally” downloaded software?

And best of all, you can submit your questions and receive professional advice and feedback free of charge. What could be better!

The proliferation of “the cloud” has touched every major business function, including HR, Finance, Marketing, and of course internal and external IT Customer Support.

Most major — and not so major — help desk software and CRM vendors now offer cloud-based solutions.

The appeal of the cloud is simple to understand, with benefits including:

Remote hosting — no “messy” installations required

Affordability — at least in the shorter term, you’ll pay less for ‘cloud’ vs. ‘physical’ software

Scalability — the cloud makes this very easy!

Automatic updates/maintenance (you’ll always have the latest version at the ready, if you opt into auto updates)

Newest technology — with cloud software, you’ll be getting the ‘latest and greatest’

Reduced staffing requirements — a big plus for leaner organizations

Of course, tangible ‘real world’ software also has its benefits. Cons of the ‘cloud’ include:

Less control — you won’t ‘own’ this software

Increased third-party dependencies — it’s up to the ‘cloud people’ to take care of you…to a certain extent

Performance — connectivity and bandwidth issues can impede speed and program execution

Security concerns — a real concern, so be sure to check your cloud vendor carefully on this

Do cloud-based help desk and CRM packages include all the great things you need to manage your internal/external support requirements? Yes! Ticketing, call tracking, remote alerting, backoffice integration, ITIL support, and more, are available through many cloud-based solutions.

But like with any business critical solution, be sure to do your homework and research the vendors on your shortlist carefully. The ‘cloud’ isn’t exactly a new technology or phenomena…thought IT marketers would like you to think otherwise! Software-As-A-Service (SAAS) has been around for years now, but only in the last few years has the ‘cloud’ emerged as a recognized and better understood and trusted ‘platform’ for serving critical business solutions.